Moving to a new Village

The Village is moving to a new home!
Find my new random thoughts at
www.allthingsizabella.typepad.com/me/

And come back often.

Sickness and Selling

Tragedy and Triumph!
We all have the stomach flu, but...I have an offer on my house!

Daddy was in Indianapolis over the weekend for a family reunion and came back with a bad bug. We thought it was food poisoning until today...when Mom got it. I don't have anything full blown yet, but there is definately some rumbling going on. They have been like zombies today, and I have been crazy with the anti-bac wipes and handwashing. (my germaphobic-ness is in overdrive!) For two days the only food in this house has been toast, chicken soup (made in my new BergHoff pot!), yogurt, and jello. Sounds delicious! Mom and I were planning to drive back to NashVegas Friday, but we're going to have to play that by ear. Daddy has been retching since Sunday.

On to the house news.
We haggled last night until nearly midnight, but finally came to an agreement. He wants to close by the end of the month! If everything goes as planned, I won't have to make one more house payment! It's kind of weird. I guess I'm going to put all my earthly possessions into storage somewhere and stay with the Braisted's until God points out the next step. At least I know what the very next step is... Packing! After the spa it was getting the house ready to sell. Then I had this free trip to see the 'rents. Now it's packing up. I have applied for a few positions in ministries, and have kept my eyes on the websites, ...but so far God has not been telling me to SEARCH for a job. We have had a few conversations about this...it feels weird to not HAVE to have a job IMMEDIATELY. But He told me He will take care of it...And I am trying to learn a deeper level of trust. It isn't always easy, and feels strange, and I'm sure looks irresponsible from the outside...But I need to learn this trust. And God is leading...Deeper.

Heat and the World

Updating from Sunny Florida...where it is 300,000 degrees with more humidity than the ocean. (so I'm a little dramatic. that's why you love me!)

Last night Mom and I drove to Orlando to meet my dear friend, Sharyl, at the International Conference of the Wesleyan Church. Spectacular! I may be a card carrying member of a Baptist church, but I'm a Wesleyan in my heart. A true Calvimenian. :) In other words, although I would love to believe in eternal security, I am not going to live my life as if that were true.

Back to the evening. Representatives from more than 50 countries wearing native dress proudly carried the flag of their homeland in an amazingly beautiful ceremony. The Chairman (Dr. Earle Wilson, who also spoke at my brother's ordination) spoke, we sang praise (in our native tongues...it was amazing to hear all the languages), we heard testimony of what missionaries are doing around the world, and generally had a wonderful evening of beauty, song, and fellowship. It was fantastic! Highlights included Pastor Ivo Vobejda from Czech (I love those people!), Andrey Davedyanov reading from Revelation in his native Russian (Man, it sounds cool!), Rev. Anita Carrion (a missionary from South America working in Equatorial Guinea...she was facinating!), and the 22nd Psalm sung with Tabla Drum by some dudes from Pakistan. It was also a momentous occasion as Dr Wilson handed over the reins of Chairman as he retires this year. It was a beautiful evening that made me want to go directly to the airport and GO...somewhere...anywhere.... We'll see what God has planned for me next.

Beauty

My sweet friend Sheila had a post on her amazing blog "Anam Cara" today that I loved. (I wish I knew how to link that from here) She and her family have just moved into a new home. Now, I know a thing or two about moving, and I know how much STUFF I have accumulated by myself. There are five of them! And half are teenagers. I can't even fathom the work involved in that. And her post today confessed that she walked past all the boxes to plant flowers in the window boxes. I LOVE that she planted flowers before unloading boxes! It speaks volumes about her love of the beauty of God! And puts things into perspective for the rest of us. Which has made me think...

What is truly important in this world? Beauty. What speaks where words fail? Beauty. What heals deep into our souls? Beauty. Where do we find power when we feel weak? Beauty. Think about this for a minute. What do we do when someone is sick in the hospital? (ie. sick and away from home) Send flowers. Why? When someone passes away what do we do for the bereaved? Send flowers. When you find yourself in love, what do you do to show your love? Send flowers. Why do we do this? Because they are beautiful! And the beauty of this part of creation, the perfection of it, heals and conveys love.

And Beauty comes in all forms; Art, Nature, Creation, Music, Words, A Look, A Gesture, A Smile, A Word of Encouragement, Honesty, Time to Rest, Someone thinking of you, Friendship, ...and Flowers in a new home. All Beautiful!

I'd love to hear your list of beautiful things...

Time...

Why is time so elusive? And when we finally have some, why is it so easily misspent? I am learning just how freakish I am in that I cannot relax, and yet find myself wasting so much time. And maybe that's the problem...I feel like I'm wasting time. I know in my head that God is giving me this time to catch my breath, regroup, ... land. But I am at a complete loss as to what that looks like on a daily basis. And I am unable to relax. I am unorganized, inattentive, languid, flaging, and feeling generally detached. Where is this coming from? I'm not unhappy. I have an amazing feeling of Freedom! But I have no idea what to do with myself now that I am not defined by the spa...with it's 90 hour work weeks and no vacation time.

And I'm not sure when I had time to work. Seriously. There isn't enough time in a day, and I don't do anything! Some days I do. Some days are productive. The house is clean, everything in it's new place, the porch is stained and sparking clean, the flower pots repainted, and yesterday I did take a car load of boxes to a friend's attic. And I've done some hair. But some days are laying in pajamas all day with clutter strewn around me like a derelict tenement.

How do I Land? How do I relax? How do I find balance? And will tomorrow be better? Today I spent 4 hours filling out a job application, then cleaned the house again. I know I need to take the dog for a walk, but here I am in front of the computer again... How do people do this; this not working thing? What is real life like for normal people? And will I ever become one?

Wednesday...

(sigh). (Bigger sigh). :) Today, I am exhausted. This is the third day of trying to get my house ready to sell. I had no idea just how much crap I really have. The broker came over today and we spent six hours staging, removing, boxing, hauling, cleaning, rearranging, cleaning again, and taking pictures. (which look amazing!) I still need to scrub and repaint the front porch and do some minor landscaping, plus reboxing most of the stuff that got shoved places today. But the good news is, the moment we put the sign in the yard, we had people wanting to see it! Seriously! The neighbor across the street is putting his on the market next week (for $399,000!!!), so he came in to see and we talked about doing our open houses on the same days. Then a realtor was driving by with a client and stopped. It isn't even on the market yet! (And was not clean...clutter just moved from room to room as we staged and took pictures)
It hadn't really hit me until the sign went up in the yard. I mean, sure, I'm putting my house on the market, yada, yada, yada. But it's real now. I may not have a place to live in a few weeks! I mean, I will...but I won't have a place to put all my crap. And there is ALOT of crap. I had a yard sale last week, and did really well...I thought. I need a few more of those. And where will I go? Do I look for a job here? When do I start looking? Where do I start looking?
I know in my head that I will eventually crash. Today, that is getting closer. I'm still too busy right now for that, but I know it's coming. I am just a little freaked out today. Today it's really finally real.

Freedom!

May 8, 2008; 2:26am

Izabella Day Spa is officially closed. She now lives only in our hearts. All furnishings and fixtures have been removed and, Baby, we stripped that place bare! I am so INCREDIBLY indebted to those brave souls who helped me!!! You guys are AMAZING!! (8 of us did it all, and we couldn't start until the last client was gone at 6pm...thus the late hour now)

I will update on the happenings after I get some rest, but we did not get our buyer. And I'm fine. Right now, in this moment, I'm fine. Because I'm finally free, and I know God has something else for me to do.

Love and blessings on all who have prayed with me over this!! We're not done yet, and God did not fail us!